US House Subcommittee on Fatherhood Hearing

A House Subcommittee held a hearing Thursday June 17 on Fatherhood.
>> Chairman Jim McDermott (D-WA) of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on
>> Income Security and Family Support explained that the $150 million a
>> year-for-five years fatherhood grants ($750 million total, most of which
>> went to marriage preparation) expire this September 30. As Congress looks
>> to re-authorization, the Committee wanted to assess the grants awarded so
>> far and to discuss the importance of fatherhood.
>>
>> It was clear during the hearing (and in lead-ups to the hearing), that
>> marriage will no longer be the focus of any new grants. The Obama
>> Administration, Rep. Lanny Davis (D-IL), sponsor of a bill on fatherhood,
>> and advocates for low-income fathers, who will receive most of any new
>> grants, want the money to be for fatherhood regardless of its form --
>> especially for never-married fathers. The testifiers could find no direct
>> correlation between the existing grants and any increase in marriage due to
>> the grants.
>>
>> The hearing emphasized jobs and the ability of fathers to pay their
>> financial child support if they have jobs, and then being better able to
>> connect them to their families.
>>
>> Committee member John Lewis (D-GA), a hero of the Civil Rights Movement,
>> asked Ralph Smith of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the largest family
>> foundation in America, why the foundation has been funding fatherhood
>> initiatives for the past 10 years. Smith said that the importance of
>> fathers to children could not be over-estimated. Smith urged that Congress
>> "stop the clock" on child support when a father is in jail, calling the
>> argument that jail is "voluntary unemployment" an "oxymoron." Smith also
>> said that non-custodial fathers who pay child support should be eligible for
>> the Earned Income Tax Credit, currently available essentially only to
>> low-income custodial mothers.
>>
>> Ron Mincy of Columbia University, considered the academic "guru" of the
>> never-married movement, said that when he was with the Ford Foundation prior
>> to Columbia, he was able to secure funding for organizations that reached
>> out to low-income fathers. He said that about 80 percent of never-married
>> fathers are involved with the mother at the time of the child's birth, and
>> America must do more to ensure that those fathers remain involved in
>> children's lives.
>>
>> Judge Milton Lee Jr. of the District of Columbia discussed the "fathering
>> court" that graduates up to 40 fathers a year with jobs and relationship
>> training. After the 2-hour hearing, he told me that even though Washington,
>> D.C. has a presumption for joint custody (physical and legal), co-parenting
>> and shared parenting are just an afterthought because of America's legal
>> emphasis on paying child support. He said that Congress needs to change the
>> emphasis for America so that co-parenting receives more attention
>>
>> Other testifiers included David Hensel of the U.S. Department of Health
>> and Human Services (HHS),.Mark Perry of the American Enterprise Institute,
>> Kirk Harris of the National Fatherhood Leaders Group in Chicago, and
>> Nathaniel Rauschendorfer, Parenting Services Program Manager, Catholic
>> Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
>>
>> Unless TV cameras are present, usually only one or two members of any
>> Congressional committee show up for a hearing, but at one time, there were
>> five subcommittee members present for this fatherhood hearing.
>>
>> Written statements may be submitted for the record. Go to "House Ways and
>> Means Committee," and click on "Recent Hearings -- Hearing to Review
>> Responsible Fatherhood Programs." You can listen to the hearing (probably
>> by next week) and obtain instructions on how to submit up to 10 pages of
>> testimony by July 1, 2010. The more testimony that is submitted, the
>> better. "Divorce" was mentioned only once during the hearing, by Chairman
>> McDermott, who, although he is a medical doctor, referred to the many
>> upsetting cases of divorce he is aware of. Explain in your testimony why
>> low-income divorced fathers also need a mix of services to help them be
>> better parents to their children.

 

Darrick Scott-Farnsworth

Executive Director www.AChildsRight.net www.daddyblogger.com 

Cell 269 209-7144 or Nextel DC ID 130*112*19287

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